You've Reached Natsu Dragneel, Leave a Message
by The Tiny Foxtail
Summary: AU. Natsu Dragneel had never thought much about fate. However, after he received a call from a wrong number in the middle of the night, from a girl that he suddenly can't get out of his head, he began to think that maybe destiny was just plain out to get him. Not that he'd object. ―NaLu
1. Prologue- Wrong Number

**Hello there! Welcome to my story! I've had this idea bouncing around in my head for a while now, and so I'm super excited to start this! It's also my one year anniversary here on fanfiction *throws confetti* ****So, what better time to start a new story? XD**

**So have some NaLu-ness. This is the prologue, that's why it's so so short. Also why there isn't any humor. Starting in the real chapter, there'll be humor. At least hopefully. XD**

**Anyway, enjoy! :D**

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_**Prologue: Wrong Number**_

It was three o'clock in the morning when Natsu Dragneel's phone buzzed wildly on his bedside table. He groaned, his eyebrows pinching together in annoyance as he flopped an arm over his eyes. It was too early, too early to have someone calling him. Whoever it was would just have to wait until a decent hour if they wanted to talk to him.

The buzzing continued as his phone vibrated off of the table and clonked onto the floor with a crack, continuing to seize wildly on the carpet below. The salmon-haired boy groaned again, knowing that if he left his phone on the floor, he'd be sure to oversleep in the morning, as it doubled as his alarm clock.

He rolled over sloppily, keeping his head face-first into his pillow as he let his right arm fall off the side of the bed, patting around on the rug until he found the small device. He sighed, flipping the old phone open and holding it to his ear, without looking at the number or even opening his eyes.

He turned his head to the side on his pillow, "Hello?" he grunted, his voice sharp and annoyed. This better be good; he liked his sleep.

"G-Gray? Is that you?"

Natsu frowned and lifted his face up for a second, bringing the phone around so he could see the number. He squinted into the bright light of the screen. It wasn't one in his address book. Who was this? He was pretty sure he hadn't heard her voice before.

"Gray? Who's Gray?" he asked groggily, flopping back down into the pillow.

If his brain had been a little more clear from the fog of sleep, he would've deducted it was a wrong number, and that he should tell the woman that he was not the man she was looking for, and to try dialing whatever number she had again; she'd probably punched in the numbers wrong, but he _wasn't _exactly clear-headed and he instead continued to try and place the voice to a face.

"Oh…," the woman breathed. Natsu could tell she was embarrassed, "Sorry I must… have the wrong number," she said slowly.

Natsu rolled over slowly so he laid facing the ceiling again and frowned, the phone still plastered to his face as he tried to decipher who he was talking to.

"Sorry to bother you," she said quickly, her voice chiming in his ear. Who was she? She sure had a pretty voice.

"Th-That's alright," Natsu yawned, "Do I know you?"

"What?" the voice asked. Natsu could picture her eyebrows pulling together and the corners of her mouth pulling down in what sounded to be irritation. "No, I don't know you. That's the whole point of a wrong number," she snapped back.

Natsu made a face, slowly but surely piecing the situation together. Oh, that's why her voice hadn't rung a bell; he didn't know her. It was a wrong number, and that was why it was at such an ungodly hour. Yes, that made a little more sense. But why did she snap back at him like that? How rude.

"Hey, lady," he retorted, "It's three in the morning; my brain is off hours till six," he said with irritation, biting back a yawn, his throat making an odd noise as he swallowed.

There was a pause on the other side of the line and Natsu wondered for a moment if she'd hung up. He wouldn't have blamed her; they were strangers, and they were sort of arguing with each other. But she spoke up again a second later, any snarkiness she'd had in her voice, now gone.

"Sorry, yeah I guess it's my bad… sir," she added uncomfortably. "I hope you can get back to sleep." With that he heard a click, before a dial tone buzzed in his ear.

He paused for a second, slowly bringing the phone around in front of him so he could look at the screen again. It was a wrong number alright; he'd never seen it before in his life.

On any normal day he would've shrugged, snapping his phone closed and slamming it back down on his nightstand, back asleep and snoring loudly in less than a minute, but not tonight. For some reason he laid there, staring up at the bright screen of his phone at the number, his mind at a standstill.

Who had she been? Who was this Gray that she was trying to reach, and why was she calling him? Was it really an accident, or had she been given a fake number? What did she look like? Who was this stranger that had somehow through an act of random fate gotten ahold of his number?

The questions slowly spiraled in his head as he gently closed the phone with a click, letting his arm fall and laying the phone on his chest. He slowly put his arms behind his head, his eyes searching the dark ceiling above him.

Usually he wouldn't have given a second thought about an encounter like the one he'd just experienced, but for some reason he was beyond curious about the woman who had called him. Maybe it was because of her voice, maybe it was because she'd had enough spark to snap at him even though she was the one in the wrong, or maybe it had been how strangely amusing it had been when she had apologized to him.

Natsu wasn't sure why that stranger had struck him so, but what he _did_ know was that he hoped through some act of destiny, she'd dial the wrong number again.

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**So there it was! I hope you enjoyed it! XP I'd love to know what you thought of it! I always love some feedback. Foxtail-chan loves hearing from other fans of NaLu. XD**

**~Foxtail**


	2. Take Two

**Hello there! Welcome to chapter two- er... technically chapter one? Since the first was a prologue? Heh. **

**Some stuff will be introduced in this chapter which I'm very excited about. I have plans for this little café, although I shouldn't give away too much. XD  
**

**Anyway! Ignore me and my weird scheming. Enjoy! :D**

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_**Chapter 1: Take Two**_

"Woah, what happened to you?"

Natsu stumbled through the door of the café, ignoring the question that had been thrown his way the instant he had opened the door, instead glaring up at the tiny brass bell above the door that had rung when he entered. He hated that bell; the sound it made was just plain annoying.

Natsu yawned, slumping over and slowly dragging his feet on the checkered tile as he walked into the café, the door swiveling shut behind him soundlessly. He was disheveled, his white button-up shirt one button off, the right side hanging down a little lower than the left and the collar poking him in the neck. His black suit jacket was swung over his shoulder and his dress shoes were untied. Natsu sure hated his work uniform, it felt like getting dressed up for a date every single morning.

But then again Natsu couldn't be too picky with jobs; he'd been lucky to find one in the booming city of Magnolia, even if it _was _a job as a waiter at a café that rarely saw a day with more than ten customers. He sometimes wondered why the café was so clean and classy if no one ever ate there. Although, he'd indeed been beyond lucky to find a job that paid enough to keep him off the streets, and he shouldn't complain, even if his coworkers were sometimes jackasses.

"Oy, I asked ya a question, Salamander," Gajeel Redfox, the head waiter, barked, the corners of his mouth rising in amusement. Natsu disliked Gajeel, mainly because of his harsh demeanor, but he was better than most of the other waiters that worked in the café, so he had somehow struck up an odd friendship with the man, one that consisted of more teasing than talking.

Natsu glared at the black-haired man as he ever-so-steadily made his way over to the counter, tripping once on his shoelaces and steadying himself on a chair. This was too early to be awake. Too damn early. Especially when he'd spent most of his time staring at the ceiling the past night, thinking to himself about that stupid call he'd gotten, rather than sleeping. He was sure regretting that now.

Natsu sighed, slowly walking behind the counter and basically flopping onto it with exhaustion. "I got a phone call last night," he mumbled, his voice muffled by the counter.

Gajeel cocked an eyebrow, meticulously tying his own bowtie as he watched the back of Natsu's head carefully. "Who was it?"

Natsu suddenly felt a little embarrassed. He'd spent hours pondering over the girl even though he had no idea who she was; he might sound crazy. "Oh, just a wrong number," he muttered, lifting his head from the counter and resting it on one of his hands, throwing his jacket onto the black countertop and tracing designs into the marble with his finger.

He could feel Gajeel's confused stare boring into him and didn't bother looking the man's way. "A wrong number? What on Earth happened that would elicit… this," he said, making a face and gesturing to Natsu's appearance, which was quite less than satisfactory.

Natsu slowly turned his head, trying to shoot Gajeel the most deadly glare he could muster. Maybe if he tried hard enough he could either convince the man to back off, or shoot laser beams at him. The first was more feasible, but laser beams sounded much cooler. "Shuddup," Natsu grunted when Gajeel's curiosity didn't waver in the least.

The door to the kitchen swung open behind them, clangs of pots and pans in the back blasting through the opening before it suctioned shut behind the blonde man that had just exited. Natsu let his arm holding his head fall, burying his face back into the counter. Sting Eucliffe. He disliked him _much _more than Gajeel, and was reminded every time he saw Sting's smirky face why he had decided to befriend Gajeel instead of the other waiters.

"What happened to this idiot?" Natsu heard Sting ask Gajeel. Natsu squinched his eyes shut; knowing that Gajeel would shrug and Sting would roll his eyes. Yes, his coworkers were annoying, and idiots, and sometimes he contemplated why the hell he even worked there. Oh yeah, that's right, he needed to pay rent and tuition. Bummer.

Before Sting was able to ask Natsu himself what had happened, the little brass bell dinged, and a pair of customers sauntered in.

"Welcome to Slayers," Gajeel and Sting said in unison, plastering on sweet smiles and bowing, before Sting made his way around the counter to serve the customers, slapping Natsu on the back of the head, a signal that he needed to shape up and get it together for the day.

"Yeah, w-welcome to Slayers," Natsu yawned, shoving off of the counter and stretching.

"But seriously," Gajeel said, stepping a little closer to Natsu in hopes of keeping their conversation hushed since they had customers, "Who called you? You seem kinda… weird about it."

Natsu frowned deeply as he looked down at his shirt, cursing under his breath as he realized he'd missed a button and thrown the entire thing off balance. He turned away from the seating, and unbuttoned his shirt slowly, contemplating whether or not to even answer Gajeel's question. The black-haired man had always been one for privacy, so why wasn't he giving Natsu his?

"Just… some girl," he grunted, quickly straightening his shirt and beginning to fasten it back together again. He again didn't look Gajeel's way, not wanting to watch the emotion on the man's face, and hoping he'd take it as a sign that the subject wasn't exactly open for conversation.

"Some girl?" Gajeel scoffed, "So some chick just randomly dialed you and that's why you're so out of whack today?"

"Yep, pretty much," Natsu sighed, swinging his jacket around his shoulders and poking his arms through the holes. He wouldn't talk about it. It was just some random wrong number that he hadn't been able to shake the past night, and so he couldn't sleep, but that was it, and tonight he'd sleep just fine, and he could get on with his life. At least he hoped so. He still couldn't deny that somewhere deep down he kinda wanted her to call again, and he truly wasn't sure why.

Before Gajeel had time to question him further, the kitchen door burst open again, this time a much more petite figure walking through, dashing to the counter and leaning over it to get a better look at the customers.

"We have someone this early?!" the small blue-haired girl squealed. She was wearing a maid's outfit, her dress bouncing as she hoisted herself up on the counter to get a look at the couple that had been seated.

Natsu couldn't help but smile down at her; she was just so excitable. Although sometimes he wondered how the small girl had managed to become his boss. It'd been her restaurant, newly opened, when he had interviewed with her. He'd asked her if she was even old enough to own a business and she had pouted, but due to the fact that nearly no one wanted to work at the café, she had hired him. Natsu worked for Wendy Marvell, a girl who he still to this day didn't know her age, and was seriously beginning to doubt she was even old enough to be in high school. But she was nice, and easy enough to please, so he didn't complain.

Wendy stayed glued to the counter, watching as Sting took the customer's orders with a smile. "Is he using his name?" she asked slowly. "He's not going by his name, is he?" she snapped, her eyebrows pinching together as she hopped back down and put her fists on her hips, a very displeased smile on her face. "You guys need to shape up! You go by your assigned names, and you need to use the new greeting when customers walk in! Don't think I can't hear you from back there, 'cause I can!" she scolded, shaking a finger in both Natsu and Gajeel's faces, before stalking away and around the counter. She doubled back, making her way toward Sting's table and past Natsu. "Your shoes are untied by the way," she added under her breath, sending a glare at Natsu.

The salmon-haired boy sighed, bending over to begin tying his shoes. She was nice, but she was strict. Of course, being ordered around by someone that small wasn't as intimidating as it would've been if someone like Gajeel had yelled at him to straighten up.

When Natsu had first begun working at Slayers, Wendy had given him a grand tour of the quaint café, showing him everything he needed to do, and telling him all about her vision for the place. She wanted the place to be a maid café, however she had not been able to find a single female to wait on tables, and so she had made do with the four boys she had hired. She had assigned them all names that they would go by, introducing themselves as their fake identities to the customers and addressing each other with them during working hours. Of course they didn't always abide by that, but they made sure they did when Wendy was around, or she would snap at them again, threatening to cut them loose. Of course, Natsu knew she would never actually go through with it; she loved them all too much, but he didn't want to upset her any more than necessary, and he figured the other waiters didn't either.

Gajeel rolled his eyes after Wendy had passed, continuing his conversation as if nothing had happened, "So, _Salamander," _he snorted, putting emphasis on Natsu's alias to mock Wendy if she overheard. "Care to elaborate more on this mystery woman who called you?"

Natsu shook his head, "No, I actually don't," he said cockily, smirking at Gajeel. "It was just a wrong number, and I am taking it off of the table for conversation for the rest of the day. Find something else to talk about to pass the time."

Gajeel groaned. Because of the lack of customers, it left the employees with a crazy amount of downtime, so conversation topics had become scarce.

Natsu watched as Gajeel's face fell and smiled to himself. It was fun to rain on his parade. Plus, it w_as _just a wrong number. It shouldn't be a thing of conversation, even if it _was_ plaguing his mind almost constantly. In all reality he didn't know what to think of it. He wasn't exactly sure how it had affected him, nor did he know what he'd do about it. He hoped that after a day at work and a good night's sleep that his mind would drift to something other than the woman that had called him. Then he could finally concentrate on his job and the college classes he was attending. Yes, that's what he should be focusing on.

"Two turkey clubs, table… whatever, the one with customers," Sting relayed, slapping a piece of paper into Natsu's chest. "You tell the chef, apparently_I_ have to go clean the bathroom because I didn't go by my name," he hissed, his face beyond annoyed as he kicked open the kitchen door with his foot, rolling his eyes and glaring at both Natsu and Gajeel before disappearing inside for the cleaning materials he would need.

Gajeel snorted to himself as Natsu walked to the small chef's window, fastening the receipt to one of the clips attached to the metal carousel and spinning it so the chef could see.

"Oy, have fun _Weisslogia_!" Gajeel called after him.

"Shut up!" Natsu heard Sting retort, the blonde glaring out through the small round portal in the door before flipping them both off. Gajeel just laughed harder.

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Natsu stumbled into his apartment later that night, a few heavy textbooks in his hands and a bag full of random crap swung over his shoulder. He couldn't remember all of the things he'd thrown into that bag. For all he knew that weird smell that he couldn't place was from an old peanut butter sandwich at the bottom, but he wasn't going to check. He mainly used the old bag for holding his work uniform during his classes. He knew he would catch crap if he wore a suit to class, and tried to stray away from that scenario as much as he could.

He closed and locked the door with a click, unceremoniously tossing the textbooks onto the end of his bed and letting the bag slip from his shoulder, landing on the floor by the door. He stretched, a smile sweeping across his face. No matter how small his apartment was, he still loved it.

It was only two rooms. The main room, in which he'd crammed a bed, a nightstand, a desk, and a gigantic recliner he'd found at a yard sale, was what he considered home. With only those three pieces of furniture, the entire room was almost full, just enough space to walk around in between the objects, but no more. He had a small window near his bed that he rarely opened. The streets of Magnolia didn't exactly allow fresh air to blow in, and the view wasn't that great either, just plain brick wall of the building next to his.

The adjoining room was a bathroom, tiny, but a bathroom nonetheless.

Natsu considered his apartment his little haven and figured that the instant he graduated from college, got a job, and started to make some actual income, he'd ditch the place. But for right now, it was perfect for him.

Natsu ran a hand through his hair, kicking off his shoes and padding over to his desk in his sock-feet. He plopped down and sighed, contemplating what he should do with the rest of his day. Should he take a nap since he was so tired? Should he take a crack at the mountain of homework he had? Or maybe he take a little time to unwind and draw.

Natsu Dragneel had always had a gift when it came to art. When he was little he could draw better than half of the teachers in his elementary school and continued to perfect his craft all the way until he graduated high school and went on to pursue a career in art. He wasn't interested in art itself, in fact he found all of the color theory classes and art history lectures he attended to be quite boring. He was more interested in the story of it all.

As a kid he'd been introduced to comics. Larger than life characters scrawled across paper with bright popping colors. Those characters could do anything. They could stop crime with their awesome powers, rescue innocent people with their big hearts, all while looking dashingly handsome and heroic. Natsu had run around his backyard as a kid with a cape on, pretending to be one of those masterful characters, and the older he got, the more he thought he might like to make one.

Yes, the masked man Igneel and his awesome fire-powers were Natsu's creation. It was childish, yes, and his stories usually consisted of more sound effects than actual text, but he loved it nonetheless. This Igneel he wrote about could correct any wrong, fight any villain, and do it all before dinner. Of course he had to have his trusty sidekick, Happy, by his side, but the two of them together? They were unstoppable.

Yes, it had been Natsu's dream to write and illustrate his own bestselling comic series since he had read his first graphic novel. He wanted his characters be household names. He wanted little kids saying that they wanted to be like the mighty Igneel when they grew up. He wanted people buying stuffed versions of Happy and saying how cute and funny he was. That was Natsu's dream. Although, he wasn't exactly sure how these classes were helping him, especially since he had yet to stay awake through an entire one.

He leaned back in his desk chair, slowly lacing his fingers behind his head and resting his feet on the desk, his mind wandering to the future and a smile sweeping across his face. It would be fantastic.

His quiet thoughts were short-lived as a light ring traveled out into the air. Natsu's head whipped toward his bag by the door, from which the ring was coming. His phone. Maybe it was that girl again. He pulled his feet off of the desk quickly, shooting across the room and to his bag.

No. He shouldn't be getting so worked up over this. His hand halted just as he reached for his bag, his fingertips brushing the fabric. It was bad news for him, especially if it _was_ the girl. He would spend another night unable to sleep for reasons unknown to him. This girl somehow had affected him from across a telephone line. He didn't even know her name. He needed to calm down.

He took a deep breath, slowly calming his nerves and bringing his legs around to sit criss-cross. The phone continued ringing inside the confinement of the bag and he stared at it. No, he shouldn't answer the phone. If it was her, it would be better for his sleeping patterns and his brain if he didn't answer it, as he'd nearly driven himself insane thinking about her. If it was someone else, they'd leave a message and move on with their life.

The phone kept ringing.

But maybe not. If it _was_ her, maybe he could strike up a conversation, learn more about her, and maybe find out the reason that he was so obsessed after only hearing her voice. Maybe she was related to someone he knew, and that was what was doing it. Also, what if it was someone he _did _know; maybe they were having a real problem and needed his help! Yes, that was a good reason to pick it up.

Natsu reached forward, tearing open his bag and rummaging around for the device. He found it easily, pulling it out in a blur and looking at the number on the screen. He slouched, his heart sinking as the number he'd seen last night was not the one on his phone. '_Private Number' _it read. Natsu rolled his eyes, trying to fight off the letdown he felt before answering.

"Hello?"

"Crap," came the response.

Natsu froze for a second, his eyes widening. It _was_ the girl again, alright. What was she doing? Why was it now suddenly a private number? And why had she called him crap?

"This isn't Gray, is it," the girl on the other side of the line deadpanned.

Natsu smirked in spite of himself. So she was trying to reach this Gray character again, was she? She must've been awfully disappointed to hear his voice on the other side of the line. He had expected to feel a little hurt, but instead he just smiled wider. She amused him and he had no idea why.

"Nope, not Gray," he chirped, "Just the guy you woke up last night."

The girl was quiet on the other side of the phone for a moment, and Natsu waited patiently for her response. He wasn't sure what he should say. Had she just happened to dial the wrong number twice? Or maybe she was reading the writing wrong.

"Is this seven five five, sixty-four thirty-seven?" the girl asked, her voice filled with confusion.

Natsu nodded even though he knew she couldn't see him. "Yep, that's me."

"Really?" the girl asked.

Natsu could picture her squinting her eyes, disbelieving that this was really the number. "Yep."

"_Really?"_ she asked again, her voice a pitch higher.

Natsu smirked again. Yes, she'd definitely been given the wrong number. Ooh, poor girl. Natsu was curious as to who this Gray bastard was now. At first he'd been amused by him, but now he was just a bit annoyed. Who would give this girl the wrong number on purpose? Who was that mean? She was wonderful, how could Gray not notice it? Whoever he was.

Natsu managed to keep a lighthearted tone in his voice although his face and thoughts were full of malice. "It seems he's just not that into you."

"Hey!" the girl screeched into the phone. Natsu sputtered out a chuckle, holding the phone away from his ear and squinting an eye at the volume she had achieved. "I'll have you know that he is _very _into me!"

Oh, so he _had _guessed right. This Gray person was a guy that had given her his phone number, and had written down a fake one. Natsu gave himself a pat on the back for his guessing skills. Whoever this woman was, she was sure easily riled. She'd snapped at him their first conversation and now she was nearly yelling.

"Oh, okay, sorry. Maybe he just wrote it down wrong," Natsu said, sarcasm and humor easily evident in his tone.

"I bet he did," she retorted. "I'll ask him tomorrow and I'm sure he'll say he screwed up a number or something."

"Oh, sure he will," Natsu reassured, the mocking still clear in his voice, "Or maybe he'll just give you another fake one."

"No he won't!" she shouted back, "You just wait and see!"

"Alright, I'll be waiting," he snorted, rolling his eyes. She wouldn't call him back just to prove a point, and he knew it. Although maybe she could use a little advice, not that he was one to give it, but he felt the need to anyway. "Listen," Natsu started, with a little effort keeping his tone light and playful, "If some douchebag is going to give you a fake number, he doesn't deserve you anyway. Ditch 'im if he does it again," he said, sighing at the end. Indeed he didn't know this girl, but he didn't want her hanging around with the likes of Gray. Whoever that was.

There were a few beats of silence on the other side of the line and Natsu presumed she was thinking over his statement. Was it weird that he said something like that to her? They were strangers. Although he was starting to feel as if maybe they weren't, with all the time he spent analyzing their short conversation last night. What was it about her voice and what she said that made him think so hard, that made him lose sleep, and that made him so damn amused?

"He's a good guy," the girl said softly, "I'm sure he just wrote it down wrong. Thanks… though," she said awkwardly.

Natsu frowned. Although he didn't know the girl _or _the Gray she was trying to reach, he'd felt the need to intervene and now the girl sounded a bit sad. _'__Way to go, Natsu,' _he thought to himself with an eye roll. He shook his head and once again willed his voice to sound cheerful. "No prob, if you ever need some help from the relationship genie, just call."

He could nearly feel her eye roll through the phone. "Yeah, I'll be sure to do that, oh genie," she deadpanned.

Natsu grinned to himself. She had a bit of spark; he hadn't just imagined it last night. Even though they were strangers, she was bold enough to joke around with him. In a weird way he felt like he already knew her well, even though the amount of words they'd exchanged could be easily counted.

He only noticed they'd been plunged into an awkward silence, neither one feeling as if they should be the one to hang up, when she cleared her throat. For some reason, he really didn't want to end the conversation with her: the girl he'd thought about for the entire day. He wanted to ask her her name, but would she think that was creepy? That was the last thing he wanted. Plus, if she did ask this Gray about the phone number, he probably wouldn't be getting another call from her. It was best not to get attached.

Before he could make up his mind as to what would be better, asking or not, she gained the courage.

"Um, so yeah, sorry to bother you again… Bye."

"B-bye," Natsu responded, slumping over as the line went dead.

He closed his phone with a click and frowned at the floor. He'd blown whatever chance he had at talking to her again. If he'd asked her some sort of question, even something as simple as her name –which he was awfully curious about- he could've prolonged it. Perhaps, he could've even struck up a friendship with her, but he watched all those thoughts spiral down the drain as he shoved himself off of the ground.

He'd blown it like the idiot he was. He tried to shake it off, tossing his phone onto his bed and slapping himself in the face a few times to try and rejuvenate himself. It was for the best. He liked his sleep and she took it from him. That, and even if he _had _tried to strike up a conversation, it wouldn't have been a sure thing that she would've gone along with it. She might've hung up on him right then and there and he figured being shot down by even a stranger would hurt worse than what had happened.

He shook his head with a smile. Man, she really had him wrapped around her finger. If this Gray person was half as interested in her as he was, he'd probably just written the number wrong and it hadn't been a fake.

Natsu paused for a moment. Was he interested in her? She was fascinating, and he wanted to talk with her, and he kinda wanted to befriend her. He guessed that was the definition of interested. She intrigued him, and so he wanted to know more about her. Yeah, but he'd never lost sleep over strangers, friends, or potential friends alike before. The entire situation just seemed a little odd to him.

He took a deep breath and did everything he could to get his mind off of it, heaving up the textbooks on his bed and carting them over to his desk.

Fate and destiny were odd and fickle things. He'd never given them a second thought, they were just ongoing themes after all; you couldn't see them. He wasn't even sure if her calling him in the first place was because of fate; he shouldn't be relying on them, but he did decide to put it in fate's hands.

He wasn't supposed to know her if she didn't call again, which was the most likely possibility. On the off chance she did call again, he'd take the other option he'd concocted and try to engage her in conversation to try and find out why the heck he liked her voice so much and why she was plaguing him.

There. It was done with. Fate and destiny could collaborate and decide what was supposed to happen. It felt weird leaving it all to two unseen forces he'd never exactly believed in before, but he figured it was what was best.

But he couldn't help but hope something would intervene and she'd call him again.

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**So there it was! I hope you liked it! Call number two between Natsu and Lucy! I'll keep count and see how many it takes before Natsu stops being so oblivious and realizes he likes her. XD Natsu's a genie. A very very long giggling fit was had by Foxtail-chan when she pictured Natsu as a genie. Sad but true. XD**

**Thank you so so so much for the reviews last chapter! They were just drop-dead amazing! They all made me so happy! So thank you for dropping those; they keep me alive and I love seeing what you thought of a chappie. XD**

**~Foxtail**


	3. Third Time's the Charm

**Hello and welcome to chapter 3-er technically chapter two. XP Long time no see, eh? Pinky swear it won't take me anywhere near this long to update again. I'm still just scheming away with this story. XD**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy! :D**

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_**Chapter 2: Third Time's the Charm**_

"Okay! So I'm assuming you all know why I gathered you here today."

Natsu exchanged glances with the other waiters around the table. Was she crazy? Wendy actually thought they'd know why she asked them to join her at six in the morning, before opening, at a makeshift table for five? No… _he _didn't anyway. Although maybe he should? The other men looked just as confused as he felt.

Gajeel raised a hand, the only one with no shame, blurting, "I ain't got a damn clue."

Sting and Rogue, sitting opposite Natsu and Gajeel, looked relieved. Good, he wasn't the only one confused.

Wendy slammed her hands on the table. "Are you serious, guys?" she asked, stamping her tiny feet on the floor. She'd made them all sit down while she stood. Whether that was to make it seem like a meeting or to have them all more the same height she was, Natsu wasn't sure.

Wendy looked around the table with question.

"Yeah, I'm a little confused as well," Rogue input.

"Ugh!" she moaned. "C'mon guys! I sent you all an email last week saying we'd have bi-weekly meetings at the restaurant staring today! Didn't you read it?"

"Oh that," Natsu sighed. "Yeah I saw it, Wendy. Totally forgot about it though," he snickered as Gajeel nodded that he'd forgotten as well.

Sting whipped out his phone, scrolling for a moment before grunting. "Oh sorry, it got caught in my spam folder."

"Spam?!" Wendy whined. "Emails from me get caught in spam?!" Indeed if he'd worked at any other company and his boss' emails got caught in spam Natsu was sure Sting would've been reprimanded, or fired. However working for a pint-sized girl in a very unsuccessful diner had its perks sometimes.

Sting shrugged. "Dragonqueen77 ... I read it as 'drag queen' the first time Wendy. Sorry, thought I was being hit on by a dude so I ignored it."

Wendy's eyes bugged before she slapped both hands over her face, concealing a very vivid blush. "Don't judge it; I made that email when I was young!"

"How young, exactly?" Gajeel grunted. Natsu snorted. It was nice to know he wasn't the only one who had no clue how old their employer was. What did she make that email when she was two? Was that young to her? Seriously… how old was she?

Wendy lowered her hands as they balled into fists, her cheeks puffing out in frustration. "Okay, forget the email," she snapped, placing her hands on the table again. "This is the first annual meeting of the employees of Slayers Café. I hereby announce this meeting is in session," she said matter of factly.

Natsu once again exchanged glances with the other employees. Why on earth did they need to have a meeting when they worked in probably the most unpopular café in the entire city? Meetings were for successful businesses to air complaints and iron things out. Well… one thing could be ironed out. Natsu raised his hand. "Why're we meeting in the kitchen?"

Indeed it was before hours so no one would be in the seating area. That and even if it _was_ during business hours it wasn't like anyone would show up, anyway. Plus, the kitchen was really too small for a table, let alone two shoved together to make room for all five of them.

They were crammed between the stove and a chrome countertop, in a space supposedly made to only be big enough for two people to pass by one another in preparing food. This _really _didn't seem like the ideal place to meet. Unless you were a munchkin, like Wendy.

She unamusedly stared over at Natsu. "Because it would look unprofessional if customers saw us even though the windows, having a meeting."

"I think looking unprofessional is the least of this restaurant's worries," Gajeel sighed.

Wendy groaned again, pointing down at the table. "C'mon guys. I hauled this back here so we could get some privacy so just hear me out. Humor me, even," she pouted, staring around the table and waiting for any protests. The waiters grumbled to themselves but didn't object. She sighed in relief. "Alright then, meeting is in session. We have only one thing on the agenda today, since it's the first meeting." She sounded incredibly chipper now. She could bounce back faster than should be humanly possible.

Natsu yawned as Wendy crouched down to pick something up. Gajeel shot him a questioning glance out the corner of his eye and Natsu waved a hand at him. Gajeel smirked, holding his hand up to his ear, mimicking a phone. It was a wordless question of whether the girl that'd distracted him the past day had called back and that was why he was tired.

Yes, the girl had called back, and yes, he'd somehow not been able to catch a wink of sleep because of it, but he'd be dipped if he'd let Gajeel know. He shook his head, mouthing 'it's just too early'. It was reasonable that he'd be tired this early in the morning. The sun was just barely starting to crest over the horizon when he'd shouldered through the café's door for the day.

The black-haired man scowled at him, studying Natsu carefully before shrugging and letting it go.

Wendy bounced back up, slamming a small wooden box with a slit in the top, onto the table. She nodded at it with pride, and all the waiters stared at it uneventfully.

"Ooh wow, a wooden box," Sting deadpanned. "So glad I woke up for this."

Wendy shot him a deadly glare before clearing her throat. "I'm not oblivious, I know the café isn't doing… as well as I'd hoped." That was an understatement but Natsu wasn't going to correct her. "I wanted a maid café and I was stuck with nothing but boys, however… I'm going to make the best of this and try to still run a successful café. Now, I've exhausted a lot of my own ideas, such as you guys going by names-"

"So we don't have to do that anymore?" Sting interrupted, his face bursting with hope.

"No. You still have to go by your names," Wendy clarified and Sting slouched in his seat. Natsu grinned. There was something satisfying when seeing that blonde idiot's dreams getting smashed. "However, my ideas so far haven't really brought in much more business. So, I'm opening a suggestion box for you guys to use. I'd like you to put in any ideas you have for this restaurant's success, or any complaints you may have for things that could be done better. Simple as that. I'll put it up right here," she said, placing it next to the stove and off to the side. "It shouldn't get in anyone's way and just feel free to drop in a note whenever you have a suggestion or a complaint. We'll read them at the next meeting and see if we can start implementing some of the suggestions to get this business going!" she cheered, pumping a fist of determination and looking at the other occupants of the table in hopes of finding someone else with as much enthusiasm.

Natsu was positive she didn't find it.

Gajeel and Sting groaned in displeasure and Natsu himself had to admit he was a little bummed out. Sure, he worked there and got paid for basically doing nothing –granted that pay was seriously pitiful- but having to think up ideas for the restaurant seemed like a real bummer and some unneeded extra work.

"Oh c'mon guys," Wendy said, bouncing on her toes. "If we all put our heads together we might be able to come up with something!"

Rogue nodded silently. "She's right. Five heads will be better than one."

Wendy looked ecstatic someone had agreed with her, looking back out to her other employees and waiting for someone to second the opinion.

"And that's why we make him work in the back as a cook," Gajeel grumbled. "Such a killjoy." Rogue sent a heated glare out the corner of his eye at Gajeel but stayed quiet.

Wendy huffed. "You know if this place doesn't pick itself up soon I'll have to let some of you go! I really don't need you all anyway! Plus, we're incredibly lucky our landlord has been kind enough to let me give him an IOU for the past couple months, but that kindness won't last forever! He's got bills to pay too, you know."

"Kindness," Sting snorted. "Didn't he make you go out on dates with him in compensation for not paying rent upfront?"

Wendy's face once again turned embarrassed. "H-he didn't _make _me; I felt bad and I wanted to go out to dinner to apologize formally!"

Natsu tilted his head at Wendy questioningly. Their landlord… He'd seen her go out with a guy before, but he hadn't known that that was their landlord. "Is that the creep with the scar on his eyebrow?" he asked. That guy had seemed about two times Wendy's age and Natsu seriously doubted he was letting her skimp out on rent in exchange for dates out of kindness…

"Not the only creep with a scar on his eyebrow that I know…," Gajeel snorted, looking at Sting. "Gihi."

Both Wendy and Sting's faces turned beet red, although for different reasons.

"Oy!" Sting yelled, apparently kicking Gajeel under the table as the black-haired man began choking out both cries of pain and laughter at the same time.

"H-he's not a creep! That's so rude!" Wendy stuttered. "And he doesn't have a scar on his eyebrow, it's on his cheek, if you must know." Although Natsu was sure no one had heard her anyway.

The meeting had apparently derailed. Gajeel and Sting were now having a very heated kick-fest under the table as Rogue flinched every once in a while when Gajeel missed, and Wendy was heatedly muttering to herself that their landlord was kind and sweet and just wanted her business to succeed, nothing else.

Natsu yawned again, amused by what the conversation had escalated to, although still unable to keep his mind off of the girl on the other side of that wrong number. Everything seemed to remind him of her now. The meeting had escalated… he hoped if she called again their conversation would escalate and he could get to know more about her. He was positive his brain had a screw loose. He'd never been unable to get someone off of his mind like this before.

But he really needed to stop obsessing on that. He'd left it up to her after all, even if she didn't know it, that if she called again he'd try to converse with her and if not, he'd move on with his life.

But seriously he hadn't slept a wink the past night. Two days without hardly any sleep? It was taking a toll. He was _definitely_ going to sleep through his classes today.

"Okay that's enough!" Everyone quieted down. Rogue rarely spoke up against them, but it appeared he'd been kicked one too many times, or something, and had gotten his boxers in a bunch. He glared at all four of them. "If nothing else needs discussing and this meeting is adjourned, I must ask you all to leave; I need to sanitize the counters again before cooking."

"See? Killjoy," Gajeel grunted, shoving out from the table.

"Oh, y-yes," Wendy nodded. "Don't forget the suggestion box," she called after her waiters as they began to disperse and pull the tables back out into the dining area. "The first annual meeting of the employees of Slayers Café is adjourned," she smiled, apparently enjoying the sound of it.

* * *

**0=0=0=0=0=0**

* * *

Natsu had been absolutely right. He'd conked out in class only a couple minutes after it'd started. He'd slept so hard in fact that he only woke up when the person next to him shook him awake after the lecture over to shove a handout into his grasp.

Great. More stuff to do.

It was winter, going on spring, and classes had only resumed the past week. And this year it seemed all the professors had the same thing in mind: giving gigantic projects. Nearly every class he'd attended had, within the first couple days, assigned a project that was due by the end of the year. Which sounded great, honestly, he had an entire year to get it done, but still… the percentage of his grade those projects amounted to was enough to make him sweat.

Because of his hours at Slayers he was taking college leisurely. He wasn't taking an entire course load, instead only around four classes, although advanced calculus was kicking his ass and he was positive he'd probably just end up dropping it and only having three classes after that.

He'd be left with two art and one English class. He could manage that. Honesty, graduating college wasn't entirely in his plan. He hoped to gain some insight from the art classes, perfect his craft, and make it big, being able to drop out of the stuffy classrooms that were absolutely perfect atmospheres for catching up on sleep.

So he wasn't too worried about it, including what homework he did or didn't get done. He wasn't a scholar, merely an artist trying to make it through.

However, those sleep-inducing classes _did_ counteract the horrible insomnia he had from that girl, so he guessed they were good for something.

He'd made it back to his apartment in good time and once again collapsed in a heap at his desk, propping his feet up on its surface and sighing. He'd actually finished most of his homework during his shift in the morning and hadn't received much today, rather than the notices for those end-of-the-year projects. He'd put those handouts on the side of his desk, figuring he had all the time in the world to do them.

And so instead, he flipped open his phone, scrolling through the history before sighing. She'd called at three twenty three in the morning the first time, from a number he instinctively put into his address book as 'wrong number girl', and at four thirty six in the afternoon the past day from a private number which he couldn't see.

He chewed on his tongue. All night the past night he'd been trying to guess what phones she'd used. Maybe the first one was her phone and the second was a friend's. Or maybe the first was her friend's and the second was a home number.

His eyes flicked to the time. It was nearly six o'clock in the evening now. He should get dinner.

He couldn't help the sense of discouragement welling in his chest as the minutes ticked on. He figured if by some random chance she _would _indeed call again, it would be today. What were the chances she'd wait a week and then randomly call? So he felt the worry growing with every minute that passed that no, she wasn't ever going to call again.

Plus, if she called, wouldn't it be likely she'd call at the same time she had the past day? If so… that was nearly two hours ago. Maybe she was just a little late… held up at work or something.

But seriously… he should get dinner. Once again he reminded himself he'd left her calling up to fate. He'd pondered calling that number she'd used first but figured that if it was a friend, that friend would probably tell his mystery girl that "the creepy wrong number guy called and asked for you. What a creep" and he really didn't want anything negative circulating about him.

He sighed, shoving off of his desk and wheeling over in his rolling chair to the door where a small stack of restaurant brochures sat. It appeared every fast food company in the entire city came to his apartment complex and threw their flyers underneath his door. He tossed them out every day and yet when he'd come home at least three new ones were there waiting for him.

He picked up the pamphlets from the day, leafing through them. He could get Thai food… he liked things hot and that shop on the corner had some really spicy sauce… Mm yeah that sounded good. He tossed the advertisements onto his bed and stretched. Food was always a good at getting things off his mind, including mystery women who called him at three in the morning.

And as if on cue, or a friend of irony itself, his phone in his hand sprung to life and began ringing spastically. He jumped, tossing the phone into the air in surprise before juggling it haphazardly and cursing to himself as he rushed to see who was calling. He eventually got a good hold on the phone and peered at the screen. _'Private Number' _it said again and his heart nearly exploded from his chest in excitement.

He grinned toothily, immediately snapping the phone open and holding it to his ear. "Yo!" Crap, he hadn't thought that through. He should've said something cool or somethings suave or something rather than '_yo_'. What an idiot. She'd probably think he was weird. If it even was her… the other side of the line was awfully quiet.

He leaned into the phone, pressing it closer to his ear, wondering if he had suddenly lost his hearing. But he was soon met with a prideful –and very loud- voice as the girl he'd been thinking about nonstop haughtily said, "You were wrong, oh genie."

He was deafened, holding the phone away from his ear and flinching, the smile on his face still unwavering. "Oh?" he asked, daring to bring the phone closer again. She'd been very loud the first time. She sounded so proud she could practically burst. "Wrong? The relationship genie is never wrong."

"Hmph," she huffed snootily. "Well you were. I'll have you know I confronted Gray today and I simply read the number wrong. His nine looked more like a four so I was the one who was off. He apologized and wrote it neater and I called him and it was his phone alright. So take that!" She snickered to herself on the other side of the line.

Natsu smirked at first, once again amused by her, but his smile soon faded. He realized two things. One, he'd been wrong. While yes, he was glad someone hadn't given the girl on the other end of the phone a fake number, probably shattering her confidence, this Gray guy had actually given her his number… Which meant… were they dating? Maybe they were just friends. Still… this Gray guy still sounded like a real jerkface. In all reality Natsu realized Gray sounded like a fine person, but in his mind he was positive that Gray had some hidden agenda when it came to the girl. Maybe he was a stalker, or maybe he was just giving her a legitimate phone number to then turn around and crush her heart in the future.

Whatever the case may be, Natsu swore right then and there that this Gray character would be his mortal enemy, if he ever even met the guy.

The other thing he realized was that fate and destiny, those two sneaky bastards, had indeed swung in his favor. He'd left it up to chance that she'd call back, and she had… which meant his plan to get to know her was a go. He was oddly nervous.

He shook his head, swallowing his nerves and instead focusing on the conversation at hand. "Sloppy handwriting, eh? You know they say people with bad handwriting can't be trusted."

Her snickers cut off abruptly. "D-do they really?" She sounded dead serious.

He wanted to say yes, but then again his handwriting was nearly just scribbles so he'd sort of backed himself into a corner if she ever happened to see his handwriting. Which he didn't know how or why she would, but still. "No. Sheesh, gullible much?" he grinned.

"N-no! I'm not gullible. You'll hear about weird things like that. Like people born in the spring and fall being better-looking than people born in the winter and summer." She sounded incredibly embarrassed.

"Oh, so you're not gullible."

"No."

"GullibleLadySaysWhat…"

"What?"

Natsu burst out into a fit of laughter. He could tell when she'd pieced it together on the other end of the line because she let out a loud and offended, "Hey!" Before sighing to herself and tsking audibly. "You're such a child, oh great relationship genie."

Her tone was sarcastic and irritated and yet he could sense the underlying smile in her voice. He was regretting calling himself the relationship genie a little bit. He'd been kidding at the time, hoping to amuse her, but it appeared the title had stuck. Although she didn't know his real name anyway, so perhaps she was clinging to that as it was the only title she knew him by.

He honestly didn't know a damn thing about relationships… but she didn't have to know that.

Natsu sighed. "It's just what I do. But seriously, be wary of that Gray guy he sounds like a weirdo."

"Pfffft," she scoffed. "He's not a weirdo. You don't even know him."

"Ah, you're right. Maybe you're the weirdo since you called me, a wrong number you dialed, just to tell me you'd read his handwriting wrong." It wasn't untrue. Did she seriously have something to prove badly enough to call him again? He was a complete and total stranger. For all she knew he was a real creep.

Although he couldn't deny that he'd felt some sort of immediate chemistry with her, as well as an immense attraction to her voice, even though he couldn't place why. Maybe she felt the same. Her voice sounded completely at ease when talking to him, despite being strangers. Plus, he was beyond glad she'd called… so he couldn't complain. Although he could_ pretend_ to complain in order to tease her.

"I'm not a weirdo. You said that if I ever "needed help from the relationship genie" that I could call again," she clarified. He could nearly picture her crossing her arms in defiance.

"Oh? So does that mean ya need my help again?"

There was a long silence and he could tell he'd caught her, a grin rivaling all others stretching across his face. "N-no I don't need your help…Gah!" She growled in frustration. "You just sounded so arrogant yesterday when you said he'd given me a fake number so I really wanted to put you in your place. Y'know, rub your face in it that he's _definitely _into me because hey, I'm a catch."

He let out a laugh. He hadn't realized he'd sounded arrogant… but he _had_ told her Gray wasn't as into her as she was him… although he'd sort of been teasing. She probably was a catch, whoever she was, if she looked as pretty as her voice sounded. And with a feisty personality to boot. What guy wouldn't want a spitfire like her?

Although once again it did put a damper on his mood that she'd said Gray was into her… which suggested this Gray guy had given her his number in a romantic sense…and she'd gone ahead and tried to call him. Why did it bug him? Natsu didn't know… probably because he had himself completely convinced now that Gray was a terrible person. He probably kicked puppies as a hobby.

Oh right… that's right he'd said he'd try to engage this girl in a conversation if she called again. How would that be done? He didn't really want to talk about Gray and the wrong number but that's really all they had… although he guessed he could be bold and ask her a question. What question?

"Hey, if ya don't mind me askin'… what's your name?" Wow. Bold indeed. Natsu Dragneel didn't beat around the bush.

"I-O-Oh hey I gotta go," she said, sounding rushed.

Crap! He'd really done it now. There he'd gone and been all confident, hoping to move the conversation along nicely and transition into maybe a real chat. Not an awkward one between strangers but a 'getting to know you' conversation, if you will. But instead he'd probably scared her off. Of course she'd be scared. Some creepy stranger was asking for her name. He was such an idiot.

"Hey look I'm sorry, really you don't have to answer that; I was way out of line," Natsu said, his words spewing out so fast they nearly blurred together. "We're just strangers, I know, I mean, it was weird to ask-"

He was beginning to ramble and thankfully she cut him off.

"No, really I just have to go. I ordered food and it's here and I'm really hungry."

Yeah right. She was just making an excuse not to tell him. He'd blown it. She'd hang up and never call again and so even though fate had given him a shot… he'd absolutely botched it. Way to go. He'd probably be spited by the deity and it would never fall in his favor again.

He slouched. "Alright yeah… that's fine."

She sighed in what sounded to be relief. "'Kay, my stomach thanks ya." He waited for the click but instead she spoke again. "Oh, and my name's Lucy by the way." And without another moment for him to answer, the phone clicked dead.

Lucy.

What a pretty name.

* * *

**So there it is! Third call with Lucy and he took a shot and she gave her his name. LucyxRelationshipGenie. Yup. XD **

**For a few chapters anyway I'll keep the "first half café, second half phone call" but it'll stray from that format pretty soon. The suggestion box hopefully will help Wendy out and let's hope Natsu doesn't forget about those end of the year projects. (I always forget about them ^^')****Also whenever someone does that "PersonSaysWhat?" thing I always fall for it and it really gets my goat. So I had to put that in there. XD**

**Once again I must apologize for the little hiatus I had. I've been focusing on another NaLu AU called "Bound by Lock and Key" on my Ayumu Foxtail-chan account (link at the top of my profile) so I've been skimping off on this one. Gommen. A little self-advertisement? Maybe... I know; I should be slapped. XD It gets much more frequent updates than this one. ;3**

**Thank you so much for the absolutely drop-dead amazing reviews and whatnot last chapter! I love to hear what people thought of a chapter so they really do make my day! :D**

**~Foxtail**


	4. A Four Letter Word

**Hello and welcome to chapter three/four (I really don't know what to call it anymore. Prologues make things confusing. XD)! The café has their second meeting, and Natsu perhaps has his fourth call with Lucy... or maybe not... we'll see. XD**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy! :D**

* * *

_**Chapter 3: A Four Letter Word**_

He was probably the most stupid person on the face of the planet. No, probably the galaxy. Hell, maybe even ever to exist. At least that's what he kept telling himself for the next three, count them, _three _days. Why? Because the wrong number girl, now known as Lucy, hadn't called him back.

Why? It beat the hell out of him. He'd been witty, funny, he'd teased her a little and she'd even given him her name, and yet here he was three days later and he hadn't spoken a word to her since. At first he wondered if perhaps she was just busy or tied up or lost her phone or- The list went on and on. However, after the second day rolled around, he began to realize that the more likely possibility was: he'd done something wrong.

"Wrong" was a very vague thing to say. Had he done something creepy? Something weird? Did he come off as a jerk? He teased her and he'd heard the smile in her voice but maybe it was one of those pity smiles and she was actually thinking "wow, this guy's probably the rudest person I've ever spoken to!" Maybe she didn't get that he was kidding.

He had no idea what he'd done but he was positive that after three days of silence, it was most definitely his fault. The third option that she just didn't feel the need to call him back had also crossed his mind, but it'd been ruled out almost instantly. Their little chat had ended so abruptly and with her giving out her name, and she'd also been the one to call _him _both times so… He just thought that had he been in her shoes, he would've at least called back to get the other person's name so it'd be even. He'd want to know the name of this mystery person on the other end of the line, had he been her.

Plus, he wasn't entirely sure what to call their relationship now, but he didn't feel as if they were exactly strangers anymore. Not friends, not even acquaintances, but… just not strangers. Strangers didn't have the smooth and easy-feeling conversations that they'd had. Surely she felt that connection too.

Or maybe not since she _wasn't freaking calling him back. _He sort of felt like throwing his phone in the trash. Or getting a new one that wasn't from the Stone Age, but he really didn't have the money for that. He'd never been so damn obsessed with a _phone _until her and he was seriously wondering if it was messing with his mental stability.

He had slept even less when she didn't call than when she had. Granted, he'd still slept through his classes instead –except when he was getting yelled at or smacked on the back of his head and told to wake up by the goodie-two-shoes girl that sat next to him in English- so he was still getting a solid few hours of sleep a day.

But still… something was definitely wrong with him if just the fact that she hadn't called made him mope around like some half-dead zombie. Seriously, maybe he needed to go to the doctor. Scratch that, doctors were scary. He didn't need them. He needed her to call him back. Her voice was his medicine… Ew, that sounded like a really bad pickup line some jerk –probably like Gray- would use in a bar. Natsu shivered. Picking up girls really wasn't his thing.

And so, even though he felt like his world was moving at a painfully slow pace, it did move on, and soon enough the end of the week rolled around, and with it, one of those little meetings Wendy insisted on having.

He'd half expected her to cancel it after she saw exactly how unenthused her employees were, but she hadn't. In fact, she'd reminded them about it nearly every hour of every day. 'Tuesdays and Fridays', 'every week', 'put in at least one suggestion', her chipper remarks were pretty much the same every day. Natsu had to give her some respect, though. Her dream was to own her own successful café, which wasn't really happening, but she wasn't going to give up. She was trying to make the best of the situation and for that, she deserved some credit.

And so Friday and that meeting did roll around, and as Natsu, again looking half-dead as he entered the diner, pulled himself into the kitchen, taking the same seat he'd sat in before, he really, _really_, wasn't in the mindset for it.

He was the last one to arrive, Gajeel, Sting, and Rogue all giving him looks that said 'Finally, Sleeping Beauty decided to show up'. Wendy however didn't look phased, dancing back into the kitchen and snatching the little wooden suggestion box off of the counter. She placed it carefully on the table, a grin almost bigger than she was scrawled across her face.

"Okay, guys! The second official meeting of Slayers Café is officially in order!" Natsu swore someone would get her a gavel as a gag gift if she kept sounding so formal. "It's the last day of our work week, which means we'll look over the suggestions you guys put in throughout these past few days!" Another perk of working at a diner that only saw a few customers a day was that Wendy literally couldn't afford to stay open on weekends, so while no, he didn't get paid, at least he got his weekends off. She reached forward to open the box, pausing at the last minute and holding up a finger. "Oh, you each put in at least one suggestion, right? That's the rule."

She eyed everyone at the table and in a loud bustling of chair legs being scraped across the floor, Gajeel and Sting went to find some paper. "Get me one too," Natsu called after Gajeel and was met with a scoff and the name of "lazy ass".

"Are you kidding me?!" Wendy whined. "You're all telling me that after three days of reminders, three _whole _days, Rogue was the only one who put in a suggestion?" She picked up the box and shook it around. There was a slight rustling that signaled there was at least one sheet of paper inside.

"Sorry," Nastsu mumbled. He honestly did feel a little guilty. His mind had been elsewhere throughout the entire week and he really _had_ meant to do it. It also felt a little weird having Wendy reprimand them while sounding discouraged instead of peeved. Usually her little snips and snaps at them during the day were lively, and she said them with a smile, but she really did look like her feelings had been hurt this time. Natsu had no idea what he was going to write as a suggestion or comment but he figured perhaps he should actually try to take it seriously. _Try _being the operative word there.

Gajeel came back, followed by Sting, both sitting down with thuds in their chairs. Gajeel shoved a tiny scrap of paper, barely big enough for a mouse to write on in front of Natsu. "There, and find yer own pen, ya mooch."

"Hey!" Natsu snapped, the sleep clearing from his brain a little as annoyance began to seep in. Gajeel had a gigantic sheet of paper to write on; he had more than enough to share. "Gimmie that," he snapped, reaching over to snatch Gajeel's paper from him.

"Oy, if you don't like it, get yer own!" Gajeel snapped back, slapping away Natsu's hands. He hadn't had a slap fight since second grade, but here he was a grown man and absolutely determined to slap his way to victory. Gajeel didn't need a piece of paper that big, and Natsu was sure he wasn't going to take it seriously, anyway. _He _on the other hand, was actually going to participate. The battle for the paper was short-lived as Rogue took their distraction as his own chance to stop the fight and tore the paper in half, giving a piece to each of them.

"Aw, c'mon," Gajeel groaned. "Seriously, I don't know how you all don't see that he's a killjoy."

Natsu grinned to himself, sticking a tongue out in Gajeel's direction as he scribbled the first thing that came to mind down on his paper, folded it, and slipped it into the box. Gajeel and Sting followed in suit and Wendy's smile returned.

She picked up the box, shaking it around to mix up the contents. "Okay, I hope you all got creative! We really could use some new ideas." She set the box upside down, flipping open the latch on the bottom, and pulling out the first sheet of paper. She unfolded it carefully. "Okay, suggestion number one: we should _"stop having these stupid meetings"_." Her entire face slowly turned a very vivid shade of pink and Natsu leaned away from her. Ooh, whoever had suggested that was really in for it. "Oh come on!" she yelled. "This is only the second one! Take this seriously, Sting!" Wendy threw the piece of paper in his direction and it caught the air, floating down to sit on the table as she fumed.

"Hey, who says that was-"

"I know it was you!" she ground her teeth, squinting one eye in this direction.

Natsu was positive she was yelling most likely the loudest she had in her entire life and yet honestly it wasn't very intimidating. There was just something about the mixture between her short stature and naturally sweet disposition that just made any threat she threw seem… only mildly intimidating, if that.

Sting mumbled to himself, looking a little embarrassed as he tore his suggestion into tiny strips. It was almost like being scolded by a mother when Wendy got mad. Like a little slap on the hand that was meant to be taken seriously, but most likely wouldn't be. However, in front of others, it was incredibly humbling.

Wendy shoved her hand back into the box. "This next one better be serious," she huffed. Taking out the next sheet of paper she unfolded it carelessly this time, Sting's suggestion putting quite a damper on her mood. "Second suggestion: says that _"we should make more types of food"_." Wendy paused, looking a little surprised as if she had wholeheartedly expected it to be another silly suggestion.

Natsu grinned to himself. That was his suggestion. He felt himself puff up with pride as he made eye contact with everyone else at the table so they were sure to see that it was his and how good of a suggestion-giver he could be. Honestly he had no idea what the diner could do to get more customers, but he himself wasn't too interested in any of the menu items. Well, he was always interested in food, but cold sandwiches and coffee weren't exactly his cup of tea. They needed to spice it up.

Wendy chewed on her lip, pondering it for a second. "That's not a bad idea," she said carefully. "I'll take a real look at the menu this weekend and we'll talk about possible additions in the next meeting." Her entire face lit up again, looking just as excited as she had in the beginning. "Ooh! That means we actually have something for the agenda next Tuesday!" She did a tiny excited squeal to herself as she placed the suggestion next to the box and reached in for the next. "Okay, third suggestion says: that we should _"get bigger chairs and stop having the meetings in the kitchen."_." She paused, blinking quietly for a minute as she re-read the suggestion.

Natsu shot a look at Gajeel and sure enough the big oaf was biting back a grin. He just knew that guy couldn't take anything seriously even for a moment.

Wendy shook her head. "You know what? I'm not sure if that was serious or not, but no. Just… no. I'm not even going to address that." She put down the sheet of paper as if she were disgusted by it, flicking it towards Gajeel as she reached in for the last sheet of paper, which turned out to be two. You would've thought she'd just won the lottery. Her eyes went wide, her mouth forming an excited 'o', and her body suddenly unable to hold its excitement as she began fidgeting in place.

"Tch, mine didn't get that reaction," Gajeel scoffed, feigning offense.

Wendy completely ignored him, opening the pieces of paper as if they were gold. "Okay the first one says: _"We should re-paint the walls a different color."_." She paused, taking it in with a few blinks and moving on to the next. "And the second one says: _"After we re-paint the walls we should consider re-decorating. The scheme doesn't feel like that of a diner."_." Wendy looked to Rogue with question. "It doesn't feel like a diner?" She sounded a little confused and a little hurt all at the same time.

Rogue shook his head. "Not to be a "killjoy," he shot a glare at Gajeel, "but I'm going to take this seriously. The only thing about the inside of this restaurant that works, is the floor." He stood up from his seat, somehow shimmying around the table in the tight space and opening the order window from the kitchen to the main room with a squeak. He motioned to the room and Natsu had to crane his neck to see out behind himself. "I don't know how many of you have any sense of style," Rogue made a face at his own wording, "but all I see is a mess."

Wendy let out a tiny whine as if she'd been insulted. "What's wrong with it?"

Rogue sighed. "We have black and white checkered tile flooring, and that's fine for a diner. However, we have yellow walls, red-ish counters, grey countertops, light blue tables, the light fixtures have a green-ish hint to them, the kitchen is black mostly, but the walls are obviously some shade of maroon, the bathrooms have a purple palette to them, the drapes around the main window have pink and white polka dots, and the barstools are white, and we're not even using them as barstools." Rogue had gotten progressively louder as he went on, sounding beyond exasperated by the end. "Not to mention our appliances, plates, and silverware are all a little different too."

Natsu took another look back out into the dining area. He honestly hadn't ever _really _taken a good look at the interior decoration of the diner. He knew color theory and what went well with what, but honestly, he wasn't some expert in fashion. The diner looked fine to him. Sure, it was all a little mismatched, but it was just fine. If he were a customer, it wouldn't deter him at all.

Wendy looked at Rogue with wide eyes and Natsu wasn't quite able to place the emotion on her face. If he had to guess he would've said she looked grateful in a way that Rogue was giving suggestions, and absolutely broken-hearted that he was tearing her diner apart.

Rogue took a deep breath. "I'm not expert when it comes to businesses, but what I do know is that you have to make it not only an enjoyable experience for the customer, but you have to figure out what your "brand" is. You have to find one thing you want this diner to be, and go after it. Right now it looks like we're running some makeshift bar that isn't sure what kind of bar it wants to be."

Wendy nodded slowly. "I-I didn't know what color I wanted things so I figured I could just get a little of each and find what we liked… I didn't think it looked _that _bad."

Rogue looked at her as if she'd gone crazy. Maybe Natsu knew that he himself didn't have the best sense of style, but it appeared Wendy didn't exactly have one –at least for interior decoration- either.

"So what're you exactly suggestin' with this?" Gajeel asked.

Rogue shrugged lightly. "I'm not saying "let's re-do everything" I'm just saying… y'know, let's let Wendy find out exactly what she wants for this place, and then let's make use of the salary we _are_ getting paid, to help her out, instead of sitting around all day doing nothing."

Gajeel rolled his eyes as if he were annoyed he'd actually have to start doing some work and Wendy looked beyond overwhelmed.

"S-so where would we start… on that… exactly?"

Rogue gave her a slight smile. "Well first, let's carry out my first suggestion and re-paint the walls."

* * *

**0=0=0=0=0=0**

* * *

Natsu collapsed in his desk chair yet again when he arrived back at his apartment. He was exhausted from the lack of sleep, yes, but honestly that meeting at the diner had been surprisingly… Well, he'd actually had to sort of work his brain a little.

Wendy had called the meeting to a close not long after Rogue gave his thoughts on the place and said she would really take a good long look at everything over the weekend and have a plan on Monday. She said she wasn't sure exactly what she was going to do, although she did know exactly what she wanted for the diner, so to "come ready and enthused" on their first day the next week.

Natsu seriously doubted he'd be "enthused" about anything while feeling this tired, and while waiting for the wrong number girl- no, _Lucy _to call him back. If she ever did call him back, that was. He did love her name, it was perfect in an odd sort of way, but he had to admit he had a hard time not calling her "wrong number girl" all the time.

He stretched, flipping open his phone again and quadruple checking that he hadn't received a call and hadn't heard it. Nope, he hadn't. He replied to a couple text messages he'd gotten during the day, only half-heartedly answering them. Loke was having a party and promised there would be girls. Normally he would've gone just for the free food and beer, but he didn't feel like getting out. Wow, he was starting to sound like a real party-pooper.

Gajeel hadn't been the only one to notice that he was a little more tired and acting a little funny lately. A few of his friends had noticed, Loke being one of them, and had somehow also pushed hard enough to get the story out of him. He declared that if it was a girl Natsu wanted, he could get him one. Whatever the hell that meant.

Natsu didn't want a girl. Why the hell that was what Loke took from hearing about his little encounters with Lucy was beyond him. He just had some odd connection to a stranger; that was all. And it was really making him sick that she wasn't calling him back.

And that was when a fourth option occurred to him: maybe something had happened to her. He'd had three ideas before as to why she wouldn't be calling: one, she was busy, which he'd knocked out, two, that he'd offended her or creeped her out somehow, which he was positive was probably the winner, or three, she thought their conversation was over and didn't feel the need to call back, which he'd also crossed out. However, the fourth option hadn't ever occurred to him before.

Natsu felt his eyes grow wide as the many, _many _possibilities ran through his head. What if she'd been in a car accident? What if she'd gotten hurt playing a sport? What if she'd had some random heart attack? What if she fell down a flight of stairs? What if she fell off a bridge? What if she got hit by a bus? What if some wild animal had attacked her? The possibilities seemed endless and began getting more and more out of hand and ridiculous as he kept going.

He couldn't think of anything he could've said that would've made her not want to call him back, and horrible things happened to people every day, and so suddenly the possibility that he'd screwed up somehow took a backseat to a different possibility.

And while he waited to feel excited, or even happy that maybe it wasn't because he'd been some inadvertent jerk to her, and maybe it wasn't his fault… the slight relief didn't come. Instead, panic seemed to strike through him. What if she really wasn't alright? He was probably tens if not hundreds of miles away from wherever she lived, and he didn't know how to help. Yes, he was just some… non-stranger –he still didn't know what to call their relationship- that she'd talked to what, three times? But still… he wanted to make sure she was alright, and if there was anything he could do, even if it was to make her smile. Well, he'd do it.

He didn't take into consideration the possibility of how crazy that sounded. Sometimes even good or best friends didn't selflessly offer assistance for truly _anything _when something happened. And yet here he was, barely knowing her, and he was positive he'd be up for anything.

Granted, maybe that wasn't so out of the ordinary, considering who he was. Throughout his life he'd been called many things by people. People said he trusted anyone, even when he shouldn't. People said he'd give the shirt off his back –which he really didn't understand the meaning of- to someone in need. Of course, he'd been called a lot of not-so-favorable things as well, but yes, he was a rather… caring person, and going out of his way for someone wasn't exactly uncommon.

However, he had no way of getting in touch with her, so even if he could do something, he wouldn't know it.

Wait… he didn't have… _nothing, _per say. He flipped open his phone, arrowing to the contact he'd labeled "wrong number girl". It wasn't the phone she'd called from the past two times, but it'd been the first one. He had no idea if it was her phone or not and he'd been mulling over the possibility of calling it since the day Lucy'd called him, but now… he was gonna do it.

Before he could get too nervous to carry out his plan, he clicked dial and waited for an answer. He had no idea what to say. If it wasn't her he had no idea, and if it was…? He had even less of an idea. He'd probably really come off as some creep then. _"Hey, you haven't called me for three days. Me, a stranger, and I was just wondering how you were." _Sheesh, clingy much?

Luckily, there was a click and a voice answered the phone before he could think too much into it.

"Hello?"

Natsu froze for a moment. It wasn't her. This girl's voice was far too high-pitched and wasn't quite as… It didn't have that quality that he considered absolutely mesmerizing about it. Whatever the hell that quality was, he had no idea. Just something about Lucy's voice made everything sound wonderful. She could say some of the words he hated most and he was positive he'd grow to love them.

"Um…," he mumbled. What should he say? Who was this girl? "I-Is Lucy there?" Hopefully this poor girl wouldn't think he was too crazy. Oh god, was he going to become to this girl what Lucy was to him? Was _he _the wrong number caller? Oh how roles reversed.

"No, she's not," the voice said hesitantly. "Who… Who is this?"

Oh god, telling her that was even worse than if she didn't know Lucy and had just been some random stranger. But hey, he wasn't going to lie to her –lying just wasn't his thing- and if she really _did_ know Lucy, perhaps she'd know if something happened to her, so he wasn't going to hang up. Natsu took a deep breath and decided to throw all his chips on the table. "I'm a guy Lucy called last weekend on accident and we've talked a few times since… I-I… She hasn't called for a bit and I just wanted to make sure she was okay." Hopefully that wouldn't sound too creepy. He crossed his fingers it wouldn't, anyway.

"Oooh! You're "wrong number guy"!" the girl said, a smile in her voice.

Natsu's eyes nearly bugged out of his head. Wait, so whoever this girl was that knew Lucy, had been told about him? And he had apparently been dubbed "wrong number guy" just as he'd dubbed her "wrong number girl"? Hey, great minds thought alike, no? He couldn't help but smirk at the thought. He and Lucy were on the same page… But if she really had gone and told someone about him… Did that mean she felt that they had a connection, just as he did? Because telling someone else meant that she considered their conversations significant, right? At least significant enough to share. His stomach clenched once with hope.

Before he had a chance to respond, the girl let out a melodic giggle. "Yeah, she's fine. Lucy's been sick for a few days now so she hasn't felt like doing really anything but sleeping, but yeah, she's just fine. She's getting better too. You want me to tell her you called?" She sounded a tad hesitant and amused to ask him that.

"Yeah- I mean, no- I mean…" Natsu had no idea how to answer that. Did he want her to know he called? Yes, he sorta did so she'd know he was at least a little invested in their weird telephone-operated relationship and then she'd probably call him back, but he also didn't because once again… that just sounded freakishly clingy. Whatever, he'd go for it. He'd been bold enough to call this number, after all. "Yeah, tell her I called."

"Alright, will do," said the voice. "Bye-bye!"

Natsu opened his mouth to say goodbye but the line clicked fuzzy before he had the chance. He made a slight face, looking at the screen of his phone and considering that he should probably change the name that that number was under. It wasn't Lucy's phone… but he didn't know whose it was. He'd have to ask her next time.

His stomach did a flip. And because he'd told that girl to let Lucy know he'd called… he was pretty much guaranteed a 'next time'.

He smirked. _'Natsu Dragneel,'_ he thought to himself, shaking his head. _'… you sneaky bastard.'_

* * *

**So there it is! I hope you enjoyed! Anyone know who the second mystery girl is? It's probably pretty easy to figure out, haha! XD And Slayers now has a tiny plan for getting more business (sort of) from Rogue. Although, we'll see what Wendy comes up with over the weekend... I think she might have some ideas of her own. ;D**

**Natsu technically didn't get to talk with Lucy again this time, but hopefully next time he will. And he was all worried about her. Natsu getting all blue because Lucy was sick and missing the festival in the Rainbow Sakura episode was one of my faves, so having him get worried over little things makes me feel all fuzzy and NaLu-y inside. XD **

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed and I'd love to know what you thought of it! The reviews you guys are giving are just beyond amazing and I love every single one! :D**

**~Foxtail-chan**


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